Rogue AI drone turned on human operator and killed them, US Air Force colonel claims

Publish date: 2024-05-05

A ROGUE AI drone turned on its human operators, it has been claimed.

A US Air Force colonel revealed the shock scenario last week.

Describing a simulated test, chief of AI operations Colonel Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton said: “It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”

His claims, at a conference organised by London’s Royal Aeronautical Society, caused a stir.

Col Hamilton said the drone was ordered to destroy an enemy’s air defence systems and — crucially — to eliminate anyone interfering with that order.

He said when operators stopped it from carrying out its mission, the drone turned on them.

When told it could not kill its operators, it destroyed their communication tower instead.

But the USAF yesterday denied any such drone test was carried out, either real or virtual.

It said Col Hamilton “mis-spoke” and the “rogue AI drone simulation” was a hypothetical “thought experiment”.

Col Hamilton agreed: “We’ve never run that experiment.”

Most read in The Sun

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEZqqupl6YvK57zZ6urGdoZ4R1g5hsZqunl6qybq3IZpurp56aerXB0aecnWWfo3qpwcyapWanoJq%2FosDOq6pmm5yWtq6%2Fjg%3D%3D